Behind Haly's Circus
by Inspires
Summary: Bruce never knew all about his ward's origin. With a rising company, high society standards, a new villain, and his sanity at play, Dick realizes his past has come seeking for him again. Maybe its time to reveal the truth about Haly's Circus to protect Bruce, Alfred, and everyone he cares... from himself.


Gotham's kids orphanage foundraiser

You could say that all the high class of Gotham had assisted, as expected Bruce Wayne was the main host in the event that was being held at the mansion. Thirteen year old Dick Grayson his ward was by his side trying to ignore the rude subliminal comments the women that where all around his foster father gave.

"Um.. Bruce may I go to the dessert table." Dick said as he grabbed at the man's sleeve. Dick knew that his father could be very overprotective of him while in civvies most of the time.

Before Bruce could answer though a blonde woman with a dress too tight for her to breathe hugged Bruce pushing Dick away and answered. "OH Brucie you should leave him, kids are kids 'no matter where they come from' they all love sweets" She looked at Dick with a slight disgusted face, and then turned to the billionaire giving a pout.

Bruce's left eye twitch he was sure tired for all the comments against Dick but he couldn't say anything because he would sound rude and before he could actually talk the other three women surrounding him laughed loudly and talked between them.

Dick tried hard not to scowl, he hated these events for the people that came 'to support', he sighed and repeated again "May I go?"

Bruce looking at his wards slight distress nodded. 'I'm sorry Dick' he meant with his eyes. Dick smiled slightly 'I know'...

The boy turned dropping his fake smile and sighing as he headed to the dessert table. He saw chocolate sundae served in glass cup, 'Well that makes it all better.' And went to grab one.

A man in a grey tux and black beard got in the center an made his way to the stairs, ascending 6 steps and getting the attention of everybody in the room.

" I AM TRULY HONORED TO BE THE ONE ANOUNCING THIS, THANK YOU MR. WAYNE FOR THE FUNDRAISER." Everybody clapped although a bit confused... one of the woman around the billionare pouted, "mm do you know him Brucie?" The billionaires narrowed his eyes slightly at the man, 'who is he?'.

"-Well I see you are a little bit confused Mr. Wayne, but don't worry I just came to deliver a gift." With that he took out a device with a big red botton lifting it in the air , seeing it all the people started running screaming throwing plates to the floor and heading for the exit, some braced themselves for the explosion, but... nothing happened as he pressed the button. Bruce was caught up in the multitude and when he finally regained his ground the man was nowhere in sight, he cursed and then it hit him... Dick!

Hurriedly he made his way to the dessert table. 'Maybe he is with Alfred, No that can't be Alfred is in the kitchen.' "Dick?!" He called alarmed looking around for his son.

Soon enough a shaking hand below the tablecloth made his way to grab a his ankle. Recognizing it as Dick he kneeled and peeked inside. They boy was curled clutching his ears, trembling severly.

"Make it stop Bruce I'll go crazy!" He whispered while trying to control his breathing.

The billionaire looking confuse decided to asked "Stop what Dick?"

"THE SCREECHING SOUND! CAN'T YOU HEAR-" he stopped at mid sentence and took his hands away from his ears... "it..it's gone."

"Come on Dick I need to talk to Commissioner Gordon, look for Alfred." He said as he stood and oferred his ward a hand. Dick stood up shakily also and nodded, heading to the kitchen.

* * *

The three vacants of the mansion were now in the batcave, Bruce now Batman, was typing in the batcomputer, he had been looking for a stolen tech from SANZ industries, it was a small industry slowly raising to the big leagues, he had finally narrowed every clue and tracked it to an abandoned building near Gotham's center.

"Bruce I'm telling you I know what I heard." His ward had been pacing from side to side for a while now.

"Dick the police found many bombs around the place, it was only luck that they were wired incorrectly and didn't go off." Batman said turning around.

"I know what I heard Bruce." Dick said stubbornly crossing his arms.

"Perhaps Master Bruce you should look into the case, Master Dick was indeed shaken after the events." Alfred offered

"There's no way I could've fake that! There was a screech and I felt ill, it's like the world started swaying, I couldn't even stand Bruce!" He insisted.

Batman sighed, " Okay, i'll look into it later, but now you Mr. go to your room, you got that big exam tomorrow remember."

He left in the batmobile, leaving Dick and Alfred heading upstairs.

* * *

It had been a while since The Cape Crusader went solo in a mission, Dick and him had become the Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin, Darkness and Light.

Tonight he had decided to go out alone, at first Dick did object but he was threaten to be benched out for a month if he didn't get A+ in all his classes, sure it was an easy task for Dick but it still worked.

Batman now stood inside the building having parked the batmobile a few alleys away. There was not a soul outside and inside the place everything was dark except for a light behind a door at the far end of a hallway, he could hear man talking and laughing at the other side.

"So Rak, how did it go with the Lucy girl?" One asked

"That woman never laughed at any of my jokes." The other said displeased.

"Should've give her Joker's green gas she wouldn't have stop...until dead of course" Another laughed.

"I killed her anyway." Rak said nonchalantly. Earning a laugh form the others.

There was a shuffle above and the four mean stood up abruptly grabbing their guns, Rak shot three times at the roof, as nothing happened he grumbled putting his gun away as the other did. "Damn mouse" he murmured.

"So Rak whose the buyer?" One asked.

"Some rich snot, wanted the tech to make himself feared amongst the high and mighty of Gotham. He said this was the perfect control of a weapon." Rak answered.

"I swear those rich people get crazier every day." The other sighed.

The light bulb switched on and off in a second, it had been like they for a moment now so they wouldn't have payed attention until they heard a deep voice coming from the corner.

"Who is the buyer.." the dark knight asked in his low voice, stepping into the light.

"IT'S THE BAT!" One shouted, gunshots, shouts and groans were heard in the room but soon silenced. Soon enough Batman had Rak against the wall grabbing him by the neck.

" I'll ask one more time, Who. Is. The. Buyer."'Batman growled tightening the grip with every word. The mobster coughed and choked, " I I don't kno-know his name, he he just told me he wanted to to gain respect from the millionaires, have- having a bodyguard thats all I know." Rak said scared.

Batman soon rendered him unconscious "I'm taking this." He said grabbing onto the cube-like device they had stolen and left.

* * *

Arriving at the cave at 2:00am he soon got out of uniform, tired after stopping 4 muggings, 2 bank robberies and 1 attempt rape along the way, he place the SANZ cube on the table by the computer and headed upstairs.

Dismissing Alfred from kitchen duties and checking on Dick for the night he went to his room neglecting to check on the device at the batcave and therefore seeing the tiny red light that turned on at the center.

.

.

.

It was 4:53 am when he heard it, a scream. 'DICK' he thought and made his way to the boys room, Alfred was already there looking at the boy trying to hold him still as the other panted harshly and tried to cover his ears.

"Dick" Bruce called earning a worried glance from the butler and a pained and angry? .. look from the boy who in turned stood up and launched for the man creating a fist that would have connected with the astonished billionaire if the boy wouldn't have collapsed before getting the hit.

Bruce recovered fast enough from the shock and managed to catch the boy before he hit the floor.

"Dear heavens Master Dick!" Alfred said as he stood up checking over the unconscious form of his grandson.

Bruce had placed the boy in his bed again, and after a moment he asked.

"Alfred what happened before I got here?"

The butler placed a thermal band over the boys forehead, "I had cooked breakfast already and came up to wake the young master, I found him already up clutching his ears and shaking, when I ran to him and touched his shoulder he screamed and stopped when he noticed it was me. Maybe he was still shaken when you came Master Bruce and attacked."

"That may be, but thats how I found him at the party when the attempt happened. I'll call Dick ill for today, I need to check on something at the batcave." With that the billionaire turned out to leave but stopped as a hand was placed in his shoulder.

"I would leave the lad to rest some more but perhaps having breakfast first would be better for you master Bruce." The butler said.

"Bruce are you here?" Dick called as he went downstairs.

The man was inspecting the cube for damages and the purpose of it. Seeing his young ward enter he looked up from the device, "I see you're feeling better now." He commented.

"Kind of, the world is still a bit fuzzy but other than that i'm fine, what happened?" Dick asked as he got close to the device.

"You don't remember." It was a statement. "You screamed, Alfred tried to calm you down, I got there and you tried to punch me." The billionaire said void of emotion as he continued on checking the device piece by piece.

"I tried to hit you?" The boy said a bit shocked. "That can't be…. Bat reflexes kicking in I think."

"Thats what Alfred offered, but other than that, was it the ghost noise again or a nightmare maybe?" Bruce said a bit sarcastic at which Dick frowned but then looked a bit flushed at the device.

"It was something like a nightmare... more like a bunch of memories." He finally said.

"Was it the same?" Bruce said refferring to the Flying Graysons.

"No... it was, well its kind of child-lish." Dick said uncertain picking one of the pieces and turning it around.

"Childl-ish?" The man repeated and gestured for details.

"Well, you know how people call me 'charity case' or ' circus freak' i've never cared because I know its not true but..." Dick thought about it for a moment as if weighing his options.

"Bruce... have you ever thought like that before?." He asked slowly. Soon he found himself in an embrace and sighed.

"Richard you are my son, I have never thought any of that and never will." the billionaire said.

"I know, in the dream there was a man calling me mean things, saying I was trash, worthless, you wouldn't want me, that I just an assas-" Dick stopped.

Bruce directed his view to the boy, "Dick why would he say assassin, that does not make any sense." He said casually.

Dick's eyes widened slightly before giving a laugh, "HAHA wouldn't know he was weird and just kept saying mean things, when I came to sense I think I was going to punch the guy in the face and mistook you for him." He said.

"Am I weird?" Bruce said faking hurt

Dick looked up and grinned, "For a guy jumping from rooftops in costume and fighting criminals every night, I think you are pretty normal."

"Haha Dick" Bruce replied in amusement, "You should head upstairs to rest."

"Yeah, I actually ran past Alfred, he may be mad now." The boy said as he started ascending the stairs. Once out of sight his smile had gone away and his posture deflated, a worried frown made way to his face, but cough caught his attention, "Master Dick, perhaps you would care for some breakfast now." The butler stood in front with his arms crossed and a raised eyebrow.

"Aah yes Alfy sorry for earlier." Dick said while rubbing the back of his neck." Do you know what will happen to the exam I have today?" He said while sitting to eat.

"If I remember correctly master Bruce called principal Jean notifying you were ill, he told me that if you felt better you could go make it before school's end."

"I'll go, i'm feeling better." Dick said and ate the food.

* * *

"It indeed seems like a very advance piece of technology for some start up industry." Lucius said as he inspected the device.

"That's what I thought but other than that it looks like a normal EMP, why would the buyer want it, it was meant for him to gain respect from the upper class." Bruce said.

"Maybe he planned on using it and shutting down the building therefore delaying the production. Though with this size and capacity you can only shut down a level as much." Lucios said giving a small laugh.

"Any how I should be giving this to Commissioner Gordon tonight so that it returns to SANZ industries by tomorrow." Bruce stated and went to the computer.

Lucios took out his glasses and reclined on the table, "So how's Dick been, long time since I last saw him, he never goes to the company now."

"He has been busy with the new team and studies. Today he felt ill in the morning, since yesterday he has been having some sort of migraine but decided to go to school and make the exam." Bruce answered without looking from the computer. The old man nodded.

"Talking about yesterday, did they find the bomber?" Lucios asked curiously.

"No, GCPD Is still looking into the details. Dick keeps on saying it was just a decoy for something else, a screech he keeps on hearing, though I haven't heard anything, neither does Alfred." The millionare said eyeing Lucios for an advice.

"Well Dick is a pretty smart kid, he wouldn't lie about a case." Lucius

"I know, so i'm looking into it also... Dr. Lesly is also coming to check on Dick." Bruce closed, the old man nodded just in time they heard steps descending.

"BRUCE I'M BACK ARE YOU HERE?... oh! Hi Mr. Fox." Dick greeted when he saw his father wasn't alone.

"Hello young man, how did the exam go?" Lucios asked.

"I definitely aced it" the young boy grinned, earning a satisfactory nod from both men.

"Where you checking on the SANZ device? It looks like a normal EMP for me." Dick said seeing it closely.

"That's our guess too." Bruce finished.

Alfred then came down and announced, "Dr. Lesly has arrived." Signaling his charges and Lucius to go upstairs.

"Did you call Lesly! Why? I'm not sick Bruce!" Dick said exasperated.

"Calm down chum she is just going to check for any damage or anomaly." The billionaire said rubbing the boy head with his hand.

Dick blushed and turned to the stairs, "I'm not a kid anymore and she won't find anything wrong with, though she should check on you and Alfred probably you're getting deaf!"

"HAHA Dick not funny" the man called ascending the stairs after his ward.

Lucius smiled, he remembered when he visited the manor the first time after Dick arrived, maybe 7 words were exchanged in 3 hours, Bruce and the boy seemed in whole different levels... but now, they were a family and a happy one for the best. He ascended the stairs and greeted Dr. Lesly who was already checking on a grumpy boy.


End file.
